Kit Siang finally agrees to Shariah laws

“The DAP was inherently opposed to Malay rule from day one. This is made manifest when one considers that its creation was mooted by Kuan Yew himself, whose PAP channelled the funding required for the initial set up. The party ended up being a carbon copy of the PAP and even adopted its “Malaysian Malaysia” slogan”

THE THIRD FORCE

On the 21st of February 2010, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin became the first UMNO deputy president to openly defend the caning of three Muslim women under the Islamic Penal Code. The women were found guilty of having sex outside their marriage and were meted the punishment by the Syariah Court. The then deputy premier’s show of support immediately became a point of contention for Lim Kit Siang, who pointed out that it contradicted the 1Malaysia concept introduced by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak.

According to the senior Lim, he was made to understand that the concept was all-inclusive and designed to develop a single, united Malaysian race. He told a reporter – who has the exact recording – that it was “unbecoming of a Prime Minister in-waiting to condone such punishment” as it was unjust to have separate penalties for Muslims and non-Muslims. The very next day, he took to his blog and listed all media headlines on Muhyiddin between the 10th of August 2009 and the 19th of February 2010.

At a DAP function held the next month, he announced that Muhyiddin “was a Mahathirist with all the qualities of an ultra-Malay.” Just so that you know, the term “ultra-Malay” was first coined by the late Lee Kwan Yew when Singapore was still a part of Malaysia. Back then, the former Singaporean premier irked the late Tunku Abdul Rahman by refusing to put in black and white the fact that Islam and Bahasa Malaysia were the official religion and language of the Federation.

On the 25th of May 1965, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, then a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kota Star, had this to say;

“When it is examined carefully, it will be found that the PAP (Kuan Yew’s party) has retained a hold mainly over matters which will affect the Chinese and their chauvinist ideas. National language is one of those things which tend to create disaffection among China-orientated Chinese. Playing to chauvinist ideas , the PAP retained multi-lingualism, while paying lip-service to the national language. The target date for accepting the National language is ignored by the PAP.”

To this, Lee Kuan Yew replied (in Singapore):

“You know what they said in Parliament, Dr Mahathir from Kota Star? — “We in Singapore are not accustomed to Malay rule. We are not like people in Kelantan and Terengganu.” Well, let me tell him this: when we joined Malaysia, we never agreed to Malay rule; we agreed to Malaysian rule; never Malay rule. This is all bunkum. Somebody has made a grave error of judgment if they believe that we agreed to Malay rule. (We) never agreed to it.”

Kit Siang, who made mention of all this at the DAP function, conceded – for the first time ever – that Kuan Yew actually tasked him to wrest control of the DAP from Devan Nair to “finish what he (Kuan Yew) had started.” It was more a slip of the tongue than it was anything else, really. In a fit of rage, the senior Lim added that “the decision was made days after Parliament took a unanimous 126 – 0 vote against Singapore’s continued presence in Malaysia.

Now, what does all this tell you?

It tells you that the DAP was inherently opposed to Malay rule from day one. This is made manifest when one considers that its creation was mooted by Kuan Yew himself, whose PAP channelled the funding required for the initial set up. The party ended up being a carbon copy of the PAP and even adopted its “Malaysian Malaysia” slogan.

In one sense, the DAP was a Trojan Horse that Kuan Yew parked in Malaysia before leaving. Its primary mission – unwritten, of course – was to derail efforts by the Tunku’s government to shape Malaysia with the Alliance (now Barisan Nasional) mould. The late Singaporean premier made it very clear that the DAP was to oppose the use of Malay as the official language by whatever means necessary (there is a recording of this).

That explains why the senior Lim openly debated Syed Naquib Al-Attas in 1968 over the exclusive use of the language in all literature. But he didn’t just stop there – he went on and on about it at public rallies, forums, party events and what have you. The Malays were getting heated over it as their special position in society was constantly and deliberately evoked. But instead of toning things down, he took them a notch further by wading deeper and deeper into the question of religion.

Over the years, he accused Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s UMNO of “Islamising all faucets of the socioeconomic and administrative strata,” including public universities and government schools (READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE). It probably had something to do with what Kuan Yew once said – the late Singaporean premier told members of the PAP that Mahathir “had all the markings of an ultra-Malay.” Back then, Kit Siang was his press secretary.

That probably explains why he likened Muhyiddin to the former premier on the 21st and 22nd of February 2010. At the DAP function I spoke of earlier, he implied that the latter was ‘planted’ into the deputy premier’s seat by Mahathir to keep a tab on Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak’s every movement. “It takes an “ultra-Malay, someone who supports the canning of Muslim women, to get the job done,” he said. According to him, the former premier would never let anyone, “not even the son of his own mentor,” to rule government “the way he sees fit.”

That was in 2010.

Today, the very Mahathir Kit Siang spent almost a lifetime accusing of “Islamising all faucets of the socioeconomic and administrative strata” is the Top Dog of Pakatan Harapan. That just goes to show that the senior Lim is never opposed to working with anyone as long as that person is able to give him control of the country. He is aware that the Agong will never consent to Mahathir being made Prime Minister, that with Muhyiddin in charge, the DAP could easily lead government by proxy.

Amazing, huh?

Yesterday, you’re the extremist who supports the caning of Muslim women. Today, you’re no longer the ultra-Malay but someone who’s just “too honest and too principled.” Does this not prove that Lim Kit Siang is no longer opposed to the caning of Muslim women? And if he’s no longer opposed to the caning of Muslim women, does that not make him a proponent of Shariah laws?